Switzerland: PhD Position Researching Plasma-Pulse Geothermal Drilling

PhD position in the development, experimental testing, and numerical modeling of Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (ETH Zürich)

ETH Zürich, Switzerland - Deadline March 5, 2018

(Courtesy ETH Zürich)

The objective of the project is to help a team of researchers at ETH Zurich and the company SwissGeoPower (SGP) develop Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD) from the existing bench-scale prototype to full commercialization, enabling drill depths of 300 m, and to provide (numerical) prognoses about the feasibility of employing PPGD at drill depths greater than 300 m. The experimental part of the project will consist of three phases over the first two years: 

1. PPGD drill tests in a tri-axial press in the laboratory,
2. laboratory testing of pilot equipment for the field, and 
3. off-campus field testing to 300 m PPGD depths. 

During each of these experimental phases, collected test data will validate numerical models. The third year is reserved for numerical modeling, based on the results obtained during the first two years, to provide SGP with prognoses regarding the feasibility of developing PPGD for drill depths much larger than 300m.

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